Media Delegation of Burkina Faso visited IWAAS

Media Delegation of Burkina Faso visited IWAAS

On October 25th, 2018, the ten-member media delegation of Burkina Faso, which was headed by the Director of Sidwaya Mahamadi Tiegna, visited IWAAS and had some discussion and exchange with the scholars from IWAAS. The delegation is made up of the directors, presidents and editors-in-chief from Sidwaya, Savane Media, L'Observateur Paalga,Le Quotidien, Burkina info, RTB, Le Pays,BF1,Aujourd’hui au Faso and Radio Omega. The symposium was hosted by Professor Li Zhibiao, Director of Division of African Studies of IWAAS.

Professor Li Zhibiao warmly welcomed the visit of the media delegation from Burkina Faso, adding that this is the first time in several decades for IWAAS to welcome the guests from Burkina Faso since the foundation of IWAAS. This visit plays a big role in the mutual understanding between the scholars and media from China and Burkina Faso. Then, Professor Li Zhibiao introduced the history, current situation, research focuses, research achievements, and external academic exchanges of IWAAS to the guests from Burkina Faso. The leader of media delegation Mahamadi Tiegna and other members introduced the history, geography, ethnic groups, religions, media, economic and social development and foreign relations of Burkina Faso.

In the part of interaction, the members of delegation mainly raised the following questions to Chinese scholars: how the Chinese scholars view the backward economic development in Africa, whether the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences will recruit the African students, and how to further deepen exchanges between scholars and the media from China-Burkina Faso in the future. The Chinese scholars also raised some questions to the media delegation, including: the number of Chinese people in Burkina Faso, the attitudes of Burkina Faso’s local media to Chinese people, the delegation’s views on “neocolonialism” and “debt trap”, Burkina Faso's status in the economic development of the West-African region, Burkina Faso's preference for Chinese investment, etc. The two sides had a heated discussion.